It’s looking like Cody Franson will be returning to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

TSN’s Bob McKenzie reports the Leafs and Franson will come to an agreement on a one-year deal once the league and the players sign off on their Memorandum of Understanding to officially end the lockout. McKenzie says the deal will be worth just over $1 million.

Franson spent last season with the Leafs after being acquired from the Nashville Predators. In 57 games with Toronto, he piled up five goals and 16 assists while averaging just over 16 minutes of ice time per game.

With Luke Schenn now in Philadelphia, that opens up the opportunity for Franson to see more minutes and more responsibilities.

He doesn’t “need to find a way to be more consistent”; he just needs to be granted more ice-time! It’s no secret that Ron Wilson didn’t like Franson for whatever unfathomable reason; it seemed the only time he would see the ice at all was when another d-man was either injured or in Wilson’s “dog house”! In fact, if I recall correctly, he was never injured last season; Wilson simply used him as a seventh defenseman, which is the ONLY reason that he saw the ice for just 57 games during which he posted some nice numbers!) Franson, if you recall, FLOURISHED with the Predators in a full-time role!

Cody Franson is in fact a GREAT defenseman; he juat needs to be given a real chance. And now that defensive coach Carlyle is running the show, he might finally get it!